Jeannie
05-05-03, 01:56 AM
I have just been out to the first show in Les Dennis's tour. A friend of mine got some tickets and we went along. I've never been a big fan of his but it was something to do. Plus there has been a fair amount of negative press about him and the ticket sales being low.
Now, I would imagine that there were about 200 odd people in the theatre (certainly more than the 40 that were reported in the newspapers as being sold). Les did about an hour and a quarter talking about his showbiz life and, to his credit I, and the rest of the audience, did find it funny. He made me laugh out loud loads of times and my tastes in comedy tend towards Eddie Izzard and Jack Dee. I don't really see myself as a "workingmen's club" type of comedy person. Anyway, he got a really good response from everyone and the age range varied from teenagers to OAPs. No-one walked out, there were no dead silences and, at the end, he got a really loud cheer and a huge round of applause. In all, he did extremely well considering it was his first night and first nights of a tour can always be shaky. Plus he had all the negative press against him. I saw Lee Evans on his first gig of his tour last year and he was all over the place and was reading from notes in places. I saw him again at the end in Oxford and he had honed it right down to a hysterical set.
The reason I am writing this (at 1.00 am BEFORE the papers have come out) is because about 15 minutes into the act two photographers came down during a quiet piece where Les was talking about Dustin Gee (his old working partner). The photographers flashed off a rapid number of photos - both at Les and at us in the audience - and then ran out.
We thought this was a bit weird but Les didn't seem fazed by it (a little puzzled perhaps) but he just carried on.
At the end of the evening we went to collect our car. Round the back of the theatre there is a pub with an outside beer garden area. Round two of the tables were seated 6 or 7 people all writing away on laptops. We reckoned they were press so we went over. It turned out that they weren't just the local press but one of them was from The Sun and the other was from the Daily Mail. We asked them what they thought and the guy from the Sun openly admitted he hadn't even seen the show but was posting his story telling us that, in his opinion, the show was "p*** poor". Those were his exact words. He even said that the Sun had already decided to slate Les Dennis no matter what. We asked him why and he said "cos we want to".
The woman from the Mail also said the show was dire. She had left after 30 minutes to start writing the piece for todays paper.
To say I was shocked about this is an understatement. I knew there was such a thing as a "gutter press" but I really hadn't realised just how pathetic and determined they can be in the ruination of someone. You will no doubt read these reviews in the papers.
I am curious to see exactly what goes into print on this so, remember: everybody laughed, no-one walked out and he didn't "die" on stage. The press either weren't even there or only stayed a short while. The photographs were taken when the audience were hearing about how Dustin Gee collapsed on stage (so, if not many people are smiling, it's because it wasn't supposed to be funny).
I hope I'm wrong and that the press will be kind as Les Dennis does seem a genuinely likeable guy on stage and why the Sun have decided to terrorise him I've no idea. If the reviews are as I suspect they will be in the Sun, you'll realise just what a society this is where we call the Sun a "newspaper" and that you should never believe all you read.
1.03 am (yawn)
Now, I would imagine that there were about 200 odd people in the theatre (certainly more than the 40 that were reported in the newspapers as being sold). Les did about an hour and a quarter talking about his showbiz life and, to his credit I, and the rest of the audience, did find it funny. He made me laugh out loud loads of times and my tastes in comedy tend towards Eddie Izzard and Jack Dee. I don't really see myself as a "workingmen's club" type of comedy person. Anyway, he got a really good response from everyone and the age range varied from teenagers to OAPs. No-one walked out, there were no dead silences and, at the end, he got a really loud cheer and a huge round of applause. In all, he did extremely well considering it was his first night and first nights of a tour can always be shaky. Plus he had all the negative press against him. I saw Lee Evans on his first gig of his tour last year and he was all over the place and was reading from notes in places. I saw him again at the end in Oxford and he had honed it right down to a hysterical set.
The reason I am writing this (at 1.00 am BEFORE the papers have come out) is because about 15 minutes into the act two photographers came down during a quiet piece where Les was talking about Dustin Gee (his old working partner). The photographers flashed off a rapid number of photos - both at Les and at us in the audience - and then ran out.
We thought this was a bit weird but Les didn't seem fazed by it (a little puzzled perhaps) but he just carried on.
At the end of the evening we went to collect our car. Round the back of the theatre there is a pub with an outside beer garden area. Round two of the tables were seated 6 or 7 people all writing away on laptops. We reckoned they were press so we went over. It turned out that they weren't just the local press but one of them was from The Sun and the other was from the Daily Mail. We asked them what they thought and the guy from the Sun openly admitted he hadn't even seen the show but was posting his story telling us that, in his opinion, the show was "p*** poor". Those were his exact words. He even said that the Sun had already decided to slate Les Dennis no matter what. We asked him why and he said "cos we want to".
The woman from the Mail also said the show was dire. She had left after 30 minutes to start writing the piece for todays paper.
To say I was shocked about this is an understatement. I knew there was such a thing as a "gutter press" but I really hadn't realised just how pathetic and determined they can be in the ruination of someone. You will no doubt read these reviews in the papers.
I am curious to see exactly what goes into print on this so, remember: everybody laughed, no-one walked out and he didn't "die" on stage. The press either weren't even there or only stayed a short while. The photographs were taken when the audience were hearing about how Dustin Gee collapsed on stage (so, if not many people are smiling, it's because it wasn't supposed to be funny).
I hope I'm wrong and that the press will be kind as Les Dennis does seem a genuinely likeable guy on stage and why the Sun have decided to terrorise him I've no idea. If the reviews are as I suspect they will be in the Sun, you'll realise just what a society this is where we call the Sun a "newspaper" and that you should never believe all you read.
1.03 am (yawn)